£4m holiday lodge complex planned near Peebles set to create 13 jobs

Andrew Keddie

Plans for a £4m holiday lodge complex next to a Borders hotel are set to create more than a dozen jobs, it has been revealed.

Prestige Hotel Management (PHM) is seeking full planning consent to build 26 lodges in the grounds of its Barony Castle Hotel at Eddleston, north of Peebles, having been granted outline permission last year.

Eddleston's Barony Castle Hotel.

If its current application, submitted this week, is approved, work on the construction of the two-bed lodges could begin as early as May this year.

The lodges are being marketed as “an investment opportunity with guaranteed income return”.

“Expanding our offering in the Borders is an exciting prospect for our group,” said PHM director Richard Spanner.

“We believe investing such a significant sum not only highlights our commitment to the area but also our confidence in the region’s tourism trade.”

The company says the project will create a minimum of 25 jobs during its construction phase and 13 full-time jobs afterwards, taking its payroll from 60 to more than 70.

“This will take the number employed by the hotel to 73 by the end of 2018,” said Mr Spanner.

Also included in the group’s proposal is the refurbishment of a garden cottage in the hotel’s 10.5-hectare grounds and the conversion of a building formerly used as a training and conference centre by the Scottish Ambulance Service into accommodation for up to six hotel staff.

The three-star hotel, in Old Manse Road, was bought by Edinburgh-based PHM from the De Vere group in 2012 and has already undergone a £600,000 redevelopment.

Mr Spanner said the support his company had received from Scottish Borders Council’s Business Gateway service had been crucial in putting that revamp of the hotel, based around the remains of a 16th century tower house also known as Black Barony, into effect.

“The Business Gateway team has been very helpful, and its advice has shaped our business plan,” he said.

“Our adviser has helped us access support to develop our digital marketing strategy to ensure we have a strong online presence.

“Going forward, we will be accessing further guidance regarding staff retention and modern apprenticeships which will further strengthen our local offering.”